Amazon’s decarbonization goals are being undermined by its push to be a leader in generative AI. Its most recent concedes its overall carbon emissions grew for the first time since 2022. It reported a six percent increase in its carbon footprint across 2024, laying much of the blame at the feet of its data center rollout.
The reported increase is significant given Amazon’s method of reporting its own environmental impact. Critics have suggested the mega-retailer “” its impact by excluding common metrics. In 2022, Amazon revised its climate reporting methodology which also led to the company’s figures falling dramatically.
In addition, the company reported an increase in emissions tied to the purchase of power from outside sources. “The increased energy demand is from AI chips,” says the report, which “require more electricity and cooling than traditional chips.” As well as the power to run and cool those chips, Amazon is building big to increase its server capacity. Data center construction, as well as fuel use by logistics contractors, led indirect emissions to increase by six percent. That said, the company’s own fossil fuel emissions increased by seven percent in 2024, which is hardly a ringing endorsement.
Amazon is a co-founder of , an initiative to reach net zero emissions by 2040. The initiative now has , including MasterCard, Sony and Snap.inc.
In February, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy pledged to invest $100 billion across 2025, with reporting the bulk of that cash would be spent on Amazon Web Services (the company’s data center and web hosting arm). Given the increase in construction, it’s likely Amazon’s report for 2025 will follow this same upward trend.
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